In constructing building, pavements, and other structures on soil, it is important that the underlying soils have sufficient strength to prevent excessive settlement. When the structures are supported on the soils that are placed as fill to achieve the desired elevations, the soil must be properly compacted to achieve the desired strength characteristics. To achieve this, soil engineers generally take soil samples and analyze the compaction characteristics of the soil to determine the optimum moisture content of the soil to achieve the maximum level of compaction of a given amount of compaction energy. Once the soil has been moisture conditioned to within a small range of its optimum moisture content, the soil can be adequately compacted to achieve the desired strength characteristics, and the construction project can move forward.
One problem often encountered in construction is the presence of excessive moisture in a soil. The soil can be naturally wet, or the soil can become wet during the construction process due to exposure to rain and other forms of inclement weather. When this occurs, the soils must be dried and compacted prior to continuing placement of fill materials or other construction. Adequate compaction of the soils cannot be achieved until the soil is within a small range of its optimum moisture content. Depending upon weather conditions and the time of year, adequate drying of the soil can take days, even weeks. This, of course, results in construction delays, giving rise to delays in the construction schedule, increased costs, and even penalties.
Therefore, there is a need for a method or system that will efficiently dry soil that has a moisture content significantly greater than the optimum moisture content for maximum compaction.